The Jabberjay
by Sakurane
Summary: Madge survives the bombing, but she is remade into a weapon against the Capitol, manipulating Snow from the inside. Madge is a different sort of symbol- she is the product of the Capitol, but the very thing that they created will cause them to fall apart at the seams.
1. Love You So, Delilah

**Author's note: Hello, readers! I'll keep this brief. The Jabberjay basically picks up after Catching Fire, with one key difference. From now on, it is no longer truly canon. The titles of the chapters are of songs for each chapter, so give it a listen if you feel like it!**

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Madge awakens in the care of Haymitch. Every movement aches, and her skin feels tender to the touch and taught, stretched tightly over her bones. She is confused, because the last thing that she remembers is a deafening noise, and blackness. Blistering heat. Now she's hidden out in the woods, in some shack that clearly hasn't been taken care of in years. It smells like wet rotten wood and mold.

Haymitch is cruel to her. He makes her cry, makes her scream. She throws a glass at him. But in the end, he makes one thing very clear:

Madge Undersee is dead.

District 12 is just ashes and shambles, but the Mockingjay lives, Haymitch tells her. He reminds that she has nothing to live for anymore. He says that she has a chance to make a difference. That Maysilee would have wanted it. That her parents need not have suffered in vain. He needs someone on the inside, a parallel to the Mockingjay. Someone with nothing else to lose. Someone who is willing to be the devil's advocate, no matter what it takes, in order to give life to the symbol of the rebellion.

"What do you want me to do?" She eventually asks warily. Her throat is raw from her crying and yelling.

"You need to make the Capitol forget the real problem. Be a distraction. Be your own symbol. You do have a choice in this, Madge. But I don't think that anyone but you could do it. You know the Capitol inside and out—you can walk among them easily." He's right, she'd been trained in decorum from a young age—many Capitol guests had stayed in her home.

He continues, "The Capitol citizens have always been easily distracted by beautiful things. All they want is something to fawn over and admire—something to blind them from reality. And there's nothing that the Capitol loves more than a story. A conflict. Good and evil. You, Madge, can be both."

Madge wants Katniss to live. She wants the people of District 12 to be safe again, to escape poverty. She wants the Capitol to be put down. Stripped of her identity, she feels empowered—she can do anything. People have always believed that she was meek, but Madge knew _exactly _what was going on. She was much more clever and perceptive than people gave her credit for. She knew how to manipulate others, how to play a role. She'd been groomed her entire life to be fake. She'd been groomed to be married to a Capitol clown and have happy, oblivious children, like their subservient, oblivious mother.

Although Haymitch admits that the survivors of the District bombing had been moved to District 13, Madge doesn't even consider joining them. There's nothing for her there. She can do better by those refugees from afar. She can make a difference. She can help put an end to this.

So she agrees. She thinks of Gale, who she would probably never see again. He would never know the true Madge Undersee. Maybe it's better that way—she has no part of herself to preserve for anyone.

"I wasn't sure what you'd like to be called. I made up every other detail, so I'm leaving this one up to you." Haymitch asks.

She'd thought about that a lot. And she knew exactly what she wanted. The final piece to the puzzle.

"Islee May." She told him. And though Haymitch's mind was addled from drink, he knew what Madge was doing for him.

"You're stronger than you think, Madge."

And that's the last time that he ever calls her by that name. She's no longer the mayor's daughter.

Haymitch cuts and washes her hair, gives her eye contacts worthy of the capitol—lavender—and a nose replica, which feels no different from real flesh. They were small changes, but enough to make her unrecognizable. Haymitch makes her repeat her new backstory over and over again, until she knows it as well as her own history. He's forged documents about her past and medical history. He tests her acting abilities—her mannerisms, how she tilts her head, the expression in her eyes. She takes on an entirely new persona.

The Mockingjay was born of the Jabberjay. Without the Capitol attempting to play god by creating those creatures, the Mockingjay never could have come to exist, never could have achieved evolution—but the very thing that the Capitol created would eventually be their undoing.

So it was with Madge Undersee.


	2. A Necessary End, Saltillo

_"You have to go to Snow with a show of good faith… but it might not be tasteful." Luminari tells her. They've eaten their proverbial last meal together, because they really aren't sure that they won't be executed before they have a chance to talk to Snow. Madge isn't afraid, because she knows that even with a bullet to the skull, she'll still be in less pain than she is now._

_ "You may have to get your hands dirty, Islee, somewhere along the road."_

_ Luminari's gentle use of her false name only makes her more resolute. She looks sharply into his warm brown eyes. She holds her palms up towards him. "Look at them- They're already filthy. All our hands are filthy. And they will be until we wash them of all this corruption. No one should have to fight to the death anymore." Even if there are microphones somewhere in the hotel, it doesn't matter, because they'll be committing treason in the morning, anyway._

_ "Why are you so willing to throw your life away?" He sounds genuinely curious._

_ Madge winces, then smiles wryly. "For love," she says, "Why else?"_

Islee May begins her plan by filming the riots going on in the Districts. It isn't easy traveling, but her identification papers are so spotless that even the Peacekeepers can find no fault in them. And besides, she looks like she belongs in the Capitol, with her expensive clothing and jewelry. She travels with a man called Luminari Cavern, a trustworthy friend to the Rebellion. Officially, they are heading to District 1 to look into her business investments in a fabric store. Luminari carries a video camera, hidden in his bag.

Unofficially, Madge's eyes are opened to the ugliness of the Rebellion. Until now, she'd been shielded from it only because District 12 lacked the spirit to truly fight back. But other districts, that aren't so impoverished or oppressed, were enraged by the events of the most recent Hunger Games. The escape of the competitors ignited whatever spirit had lay dormant. She sees building burned, small bombs thrown, children crying, adults being arrested by Peacekeepers. She even sees a baby left in the streets alone, its mother beaten nearly to death nearby. Finally, the climax of the film comes when two figures shoot down a Capitol aircrafts. The resulting explosion sends a gust of hot air across Madge's face, and she's reminded of the feeling of fire licking at her skin. She forgets to breath for a few seconds, but she hears Luminari yelling at her to move. Time regains its normal pace. She lurches forward to run with Luminari, because the Peacekeepers are swarming the area.

This isn't just a possibility anymore. This rebellion won't be quashed. This is more than just a spark.

This is an all out war.

The film is edited and broadcasted everywhere, including the Capitol. In the end, she speaks directly to Snow, asking him why he would let this chaos and death continue. It doesn't take long for Snow to send people after she and Luminari. They break open the hotel door, guns drawn, and they paralyze them with electricity. Madge had never felt something so horrific, not even in her memories of the fire. She feels every one of her nerves scorched, and her eyes roll back in her head. She feels herself shaking uncontrollably, alternating between hot and cold. She's dragged into a truck. Then she passes out.

When she wakes up, she's in President Snow's living room.


	3. Hunter, Björk

Her head is foggy, but slowly, she regains consciousness. She turns her head, and stares into the calm eyes of President Snow. He watches her as one would watch a cow in a barn.

Madge sits up. She's on his couch. In his intimate living room, with flowers and fine china and embroidered pillows. She composes herself and returns Snow's look steadily.

"You've awoken more quickly than I expected."

"I live to surprise." She croaked. Her throat is bone dry.

"Might I inquire you name?"

"Islee May." She's sure that he's read all her identifying paper already.

"You've caused me a lot of grief, Islee May."

She's silent.

President Snow looks jovial, but she can see a frustration seething just below the surface. "You don't even attempt to deny it. But you don't strike me as a martyr. You seem much more determined than that. So there must be something that you want." He pauses, his gaze dissecting her. "But first, can I get you some water?"

Madge considers for a moment if she could somehow kill Snow right now. If she could take a piece of silverware to stab him, or pottery and just smash his head in. Hell, if she could strangle him with those potted plants, she would have. But she knows that her every move is being watched, and that if she so much as twitches in a threatening manner, she'd be killed. And Snow is not the only problem.

She has a bad taste in her mouth. "Yes, please." She forces a slight upturn of her lips, although it hurts. She must have been sleeping on something hard and uncomfortable before being transported to this couch.

She can't help but ask, "My cameraman?"

"Ah, you mean that oaf that knocked out my men in the television station and broadcasted this drivel?"

"Yes, him."

"You needn't worry. He's safe and sound… although I cannot necessarily guarantee his state of mind at the moment. He was rather difficult to sedate."

Madge isn't surprised. Luminari is a large, bear-like man. Gentle to friends, a bane to enemies.

He waves his hand, and a pale man with dark hair enters with a tray. There are tea sandwiches, which Madge avoids, but she takes the offered glass of water. It smells like lemon, and she vaguely wonders if she'll ever enjoy the taste of the citrus again.

Snow's soft voice almost makes her jump. "You know, most rebels, I simply dispose of quietly. They go gently into the night. But I could tell that there was something different about you. That there was something special to your work. Am I right in assuming that you addressed it to me for a reason? More than just to condemn me, that is? I suppose, woman, that I would just like to be given a reason that I should not kill you right now."

Madge takes a drink from her glass and tries not to tremble. "You see, President Snow… I am offering you _perspective. _And a way to suppress this rebellion for good._"_

"You have my attention." Snow says evenly, but one white eyebrow raises. He's a pleasant old man, and that just makes Madge even angrier, because he's a sociopathic murderer.

Madge has imagined this encounter many times. She can't give an inch. She can't show her fear. This is all a game in the Capitol, and she's confronting the King on the board. "When you saw my work, you immediately lashed out. You acted mercilessly in retaliation because you perceived me to be a threat."

"You've broadcasted a program that is blatantly anti-Capitol… how do you expect that I should take it?"

"A lesson in the power of words. And an offer of my services." Madge says with a small quirk of the lips—she can't seem too condescending, or she'll lose her head for sure. But she does need to pique Snow's interest.

"And what could an openly defiant woman like you possibly do for me?"

"You've seen what one small broadcast can do to the minds of the people. Imagine what's going on in the Districts? President Snow, I am offering you _perspective. _I'm sure that they're out rioting in the streets from my video, because that's what I've incited them to do. People are like sheep, easy to guide and manipulate if you know when to give them a push. But push too hard, and they're useless. The message must be controlled. At the moment, _I _control the message. Tomorrow, it will be the rebellion and their Mockingjay. Now the question is, President Snow: when will you control the message, rather than attempt to oppress the people?"

"And what exactly is it that you're suggesting, Miss May?"

She smiles again. "Please, call me Islee. If you allow me, we will be becoming very familiar with each other over the next few months. You see, President, you are losing control of the Districts because though they fear you, they also have hope. Crushing that hope is not enough any more, you will only add fuel to the fire. And, forgive me for saying this, but… with you taking such punitive action towards the rebels, you are only undermining your efforts."

"So you suggest that I am lenient with them?" He scoffs. "After they made a mockery of the Games, and of my authority? If I turn a blind eye to such things, there will be nothing but chaos."

"No, on the contrary. You must be impervious to all rebellious action. You must rise above it, and be a leader of the people. Be their strength. Do not show even a bit of weakness. To acknowledge the rebellion only let's its roots take a greater hold."

"But to ignore it would be suicide. Like letting weeds poison the entire garden."

"To combat a symbol, you must become another. But you cannot be a symbol of oppression. You can, however, be a symbol of strength and of peace." Madge says.

"Cut down the Rebellion at its knees, President Snow. Targeting the Districts themselves will get you nowhere, and only "poison your garden", as you say. Pull out the weeds instead of bombing your fertile planting lands. Give them a hope of your own creation."

Snow's eyes narrow a fraction. He knows that she is referring to the destruction of District 12, which had ever directly been accredited to the Capitol, or Snow. "You know much about things that you shouldn't, Miss May. And that is quite dangerous for you."

"If there is one thing that you must perfect, President Snow, it is using your enemies to your own benefit. And I could be of much benefit to you. So you could kill me, but I wouldn't recommend it. Not when I can snuff out the flames of the Rebellion for you. In order to control the people, you must make them love you. Make them hesitant to fight back, not out of fear, but out of love. Make them question their own methods and ideology. You cannot make yourself into the enemy."

_Haymitch only sounds serious when he talks about the Rebellion. "You must lull Snow into a false sense of security… make the bastard think that he is in control, when in reality…" _

_ "I'm a Jabberjay." Madge finishes. Haymitch's eyes seem to shine through their alcohol-induced haze._

"_Give them hell, Madge." For Maysilee, he thinks._

_For everyone._

Madge repeats what she's practiced a hundred times. Honestly, she hadn't expected to live long enough to make her first move on the board. "You cannot deny that Katniss Everdeen makes you nervous. You fear what she represents. You fear the strength that she gives to the Districts. But you cannot destroy the girl, or the people—you must corrupt the symbol. Or even better, provide the people with a better one."

And that is how Islee May is molded into the Capitol's sweetheart.


	4. Waiting Game, Banks

President Snow's quiet and sincere threats loom over her head.

If she crosses him, he will destroy everyone and everything that she loves. She's seen him do it, seen the aftermath, and she knows that he never bluffs.

But she isn't afraid, because the only person that she loves thinks that she's dead, and even before, he hardly knew the existed. When they did speak, he was dismissive of her and all that she represented—wealth, ignorance, safety. She is sure that he doesn't spare her a thought now. He's always wanted her gone from his life.

_Madge only sneaks out of the Mayor's house once. It's not so difficult—they don't expect her to break the rules, and her father is not elitist—he would not care if she spent time with kids in the Seams, so long as the Peacekeepers didn't get suspicious. She wears a simple grey slip and tucks her hair up under a hat. She takes a dirty old coat, that she isn't even sure that her maid knows she owns—it was an impulse buy from the market. She can't hide the expense of her boots, because they're practically brand new but she hopes that no one will look that closely._

_ Then she goes right out the front door. Her father sleeps like the dead, her mother is a few steps from the grave with all her headaches and painkillers, and her cook and maid wouldn't interfere, even if they wanted to._

_ She meets Katniss at her house. Her hair is in its usual braids, but she at least looks like she'd taken a dip in the lake._

_ Katniss's nose wrinkles. "You're too clean, Madge."_

_ "I can't help that."_

_ Her friend shrugs. "But you look nice."_

_ And then she takes Madge to her first real Seams party. Madge hears it before she sees it. She hears fiddles and laughter, and boots scuffling. Most of the Peacekeepers look the other way on nights like these, as they do with poaching. They pass what Madge knows to be the slag heap, because Katniss pointed it out to her in the past with derision. They go past two more huts, and then they're in a clearing close to the fence. It's filled with people from the Seams, all dancing and completely free. There are fires in pits surrounded by stone, staining the clearing orange and red._

_ Katniss lets Madge explore and leaves herself. Madge is glad, because she doesn't want to be monitored all the time. She's called over to a table with wooden kegs and mugs._

_ Then unshaven man greets her cheerfully. "Well, hello there, little lady. Can I get you anything to drink?" _

_ Madge isn't sure what to say, but the man makes the decision for her. "You look like you could use an ale. Just don't tell your parents." He says with a wink. Madge is sure that he recognizes her as the mayor's daughter, but is glad that he doesn't care._

_ Three ales later, Madge's body is loose, and her vision is swimming, but in the best way. She can't help but grin. She dances around the fire with Katniss and a couple of teenagers from school. And then she sees Gale, leaning against a tree with a girl from school—Ivy Huckberry. She's never seen him so relaxed. At school, and when he sells her fruit, he's always stiff and glowers at her. Here, he's pleasant and charming, and completely at ease. She watches him for a few moments, watches him lean in to whisper something in Ivy's ear, and then he spots her. And she holds her breath as he stalks towards her, like an enraged animal. He stops, closer to her than he'd ever be if he hadn't also been drinking._

_ "You shouldn't be here." He barks. There, he's back to being angry. But Madge won't ever forget that she saw him happy._

_ "Well, it's too late for that." She breathes, and is surprised that she talked back to him. Most of the time, she keeps her sarcasm under wraps, but now her tongue is under the influence of ale._

_ "Why are you here?"_

_ "Katniss brought me."_

_ He looks across the crowd, glaring, but Katniss isn't around._

_ "It's only because I asked." She defends her friend weakly. _

_ "Why can't you just stay where you belong? Why do you have to ruin this, too?" He says in frustration._

_ Madge may have been tipsy, but she understood why he was angry with her. She'd invaded his privacy, the one place where he doesn't have to look over his shoulder, the one place free of Capitol influence. He'd thought that he was untouchable, and here Madge was, a constant reminder that he's never safe. The Capitol permeates every part of every District._

"_I'm taking you home." Gale says. "The last thing that we need is for the Mayor's daughter to be lost in the Seams."_

_ "But I don't want to go!" She winces at her whining tone._

"_It isn't up for debate, Madge."_

_ She's stung by his words, but she knows better than to argue. Gale drags her out by the arm, and she catches Katniss's eye from across the clearing, waving apologetically. She and Gale seem to communicate wordlessly, and then she let's them go._

_ Eventually, they are swallowed up by the quiet night again, under the cool moonlight, and Madge almost thinks that the last few hours have been a dream. She supposes that the ale has something to do with the surreality._

_ She wants the walk to go on forever, because she can almost pretend that Gale is walking _with _her rather than leading her home, and that they're walking like lovers. She can pretend that he doesn't hate her. This is the longest that she's ever been with gale alone, and although he's silent, she doesn't mind. For a fleeting second, she imagines herself reaching out and taking Gale's hand in hers, but she knows that it's impossible, because Gale will never respect her, although she has all the admiration for him in the world._


	5. Yellow Flicker Beat, Lorde & Kanye

Madge wakes up with a slight gasp from a dream. It was of a day out in the woods with Katniss, after her first reaping. Those had been some of the best days of Madge's life, because she'd tasted true freedom. And she felt as if she'd gained her first real friend in those months before Katniss was reaped yet again.

_Gale hears a rustling of leaves a few meters ahead, and he knocks an arrow. It sounds heavy for an animal, uncoordinated. Maybe its been injured. Gale hopes it's not ill, because he's not desperate enough to bring back infected or spoiled meat. He waits, perfectly still, as the rustling comes towards the path. The animal pushes through the brush, and he's about to let the arrow fly, when he's shocked to see the Mayor's daughter stumble. He nearly drops the arrow in surprise._

"_Wha- What's the hell, Undersee! I almost shot you in the eye!"_

_ Katniss comes after the blonde, so quiet that he hadn't even heard her. _

"_Gale, don't yell at her. She hasn't done anything wrong!" Katniss says angrily._

"_How about traipsing around the forest like an idiot!" Gale growls furiously._

_She steps in front of Madge. "I brought her. I thought you'd be at the mines, today's not your hunting day."_

"_Part of it collapsed last night, so we have the day off while they fix it." And if he has anything to say about it, he'll never go back. But unfortunately, that's not an option. Gale sighs and the tension finally leaves his body._

"_Well, that was your fault, wasn't it? You should keep to our schedule." Katniss says, and there's a bit of humor in her mouth. Madge finally steps out from behind her, her face deathly pale and her eyes wide like a frightened doe. But she also looks furious._

"_Keep her out of the forest, Catnip. She doesn't belong out here." Gale says gruffly._

_Katniss just nods enigmatically, neither conceding nor arguing, and that the issue is far from settled. She heads back in the direction of the fence, and Madge follows, but then she turns to him and says, "And by the way, Gale... I doubt you would've gotten that arrow through my eye- your aim has never been as good as Katniss'."_

_Gale's mouth falls open at this, but Madge doesn't stay to see his reaction, instead turning and catching up to her friend._

She slows her breathing and then goes out into the living room of her apartment. She detangles her hair with her fingers. This is a nervous habit, but something that always calms her down.

She jumps a little when a voice says, "You should appreciate that part of your hair while you can, because today, that half is going to be shaved, and dyed black."

It's her new stylist, Ursa. She's a bit younger than Madge, and would have been considered beautiful by her District's standard with long limbs, dark brown hair cut in a messy bob, and olive eyes. Her excitement at the challenge of creating Madge's image is always clear. But for what it's worth, Madge likes Ursa, and her no-nonsense way that she deals with people. She takes pride in her work, and what she wants to accomplish. It's thanks to Ursa's efforts that Madge has gained any popularity in Panem at all. For all of Madge's efforts to keep Ursa at arm's length, the girl's infectious personality is impossible to deny—she's sarcastic, warm, and actually makes Madge laugh. She feels guilty for laughing, these days.

Ursa must have let herself in earlier with a key, and she's been waiting with Sage Thrasher, a boy who stays in the spare room of the apartment.

Sage Thrasher, on the other hand, is a very different story. He's a stony thirteen year old with a venomous glare. He was given to Madge by Snow, and she still isn't sure if she can trust him or not. Sage is the son of a female avox, and had been raised in the Capitol to be a servant. His tongue had never been cut out, and Madge thinks that she knows why: Snow wanted to isolate him completely, and that's how he tries to break Sage's spirit. He's surrounded by people that he considers the enemy, and cared for by avoxes, who can never comfort him with their words ever again. To have been made mute would have been a blessing, because at least he would have found solidarity. Left alone, he was helpless. But that doesn't stop him from being bitter. She halfway expects Sage to spit in her food when he brings her meals.

The tactical part of Madge knew that it was brilliant torture on the part of Snow, and it worried her that she would soon be going head to head with him in a chess game with pawns at her disposal.

"I want to show off your new look at the soup kitchen this afternoon. You'll look like some kind of badass angel." Ursa tells her as she eats breakfast. She's had to get used to being fed constantly, because despite what Gale and the others of the Seam might have thought, her parents were not all that wealthy after Katniss' Hunger Games because President Snow punished them. Any money they had went towards keeping up appearances when Capitol representatives stayed with them, and towards keeping the District afloat, as much as they could. The remainder went towards her mother's morphling supply, which was no longer so readily offered by the Capitol (probably Snow's doing, too). Once upon a time, Madge Undersee had lived in the lap of luxury, but those days were long gone. But she had still lived better off than most of District 12. Now, she's fed lavishly.

Islee May is like some modern-day humanitarian mixed with a celebrity. The Capitol citizens want to know about her love interests, her fashion, what she had for dinner. She plays the piano, and there are thousands in the audience. She goes to feed the poor, listen to complaints, does what she can. She brings brightness to the Districts. Where Katniss is fire, she's light.

But she only serves the most basic of needs. It's like giving a starving dog the bare minimum, but the dog is still grateful, still accepts abuse, because he isn't backed into a corner. The Peacekeepers are even worse now, a constant presence.

This is a new tactic that Madge suggested to Snow. It's disgusting, but effective, and just the sort of thing that Islee May would come up with.

Today, she'll be attending the opening of a soup kitchen in District 6. Ursa has designed a new dress for her, and shows it to Madge while a team comes in and deals with her hair. It's a beautiful strapless white dress with ruffles. Ursa is smart when it comes to image—she does her best to make Islee May appealing, approachable, and most important, innocent.

She takes the train to District 6 with Ursa and several guards. She knows that every move she makes, every word she speaks, will be monitored by Snow. She informs the public of the rations with a smile. She hopes that her smile will distract the District from seeing that Snow is still entirely in control. Her smile dulls the tears and moans of the poor, the desperate, and the angry. Children grasp at her skirts and ask for charity, ask her to play the piano for them, try to touch her hair. She makes sure that the Peacekeepers know that they aren't a threat, because she they won't hesitate to nullify any threat. The adults are ragged and dirty, with teeth falling out and jutting bones. She looks every one of them in the eye and hands them a bowl into their skinny hands.

They're all so grateful to be hand fed by the Capitol.

But the threat of destruction still looms over them.


	6. Blindness, Metric

The next day in District 6, an old man swats the proffered bowl of soup from Islee May's hands. The soup splatters all over her dress. He screams and causes a scene. The Peacekeepers apprehend him and drag him away.

"The Capitol is corrupt! The food is probably poisoned, too! Don't let them treat you like cattle!" Spittle rests in the corners of his snarling mouth.

There is unrest and murmurs in the crowd, but Islee never lets the smile slip form her face.

"That is a sick, sick man. His bitterness has blinded him to the reality of peace. We're all friends here. We can begin a new era of kindness and salvation, if we just open our hearts to one another." She says magnanimously. And everyone goes back to the trough, remaining pigs in the mud because they don't know any better. Islee May uses her words to subjugate.

But in the end, she'll have weaved her words into a noose that will choke the life from Snow.

They transport the man back to the Capitol upon her request. She knows

exactly what happens to people who rebel against Peacekeepers. She remembers Gale's whipping, and she refuses to witness that again.

_She doesn't even linger a minute, because she can't let Katniss see her panic. She can't see how much Madge cares about Gale. But as Katniss takes the morphling to her mother, Madge goes to Gale, sees his back torn apart like the divisions of the fields. She touches his hand, squeezes her eyes tightly so that she won't cry. He moans, and she feels torn apart seeing him in pain, and being powerless to stop it. She kneels beside the table and lays her forehead lightly on his hand, and they're hotter than a furnace against her snow-chapped skin. Then she's out the door again, and she actually lets the tears fall, because she'll never be the one to stay by his side, no matter how much she wants to be. _

_That person has been, and forever will be, Katniss._

Violence begets more violence, she truly believes that, and while she can't openly voice her distaste, she can use the situation to her advantage. Stay one move ahead of Snow on the board. It isn't the event itself, but the meaning that it is given. She'll give this man's sacrifice meaning, if it's the last thing that she does.

When they get to the Capitol, she sees the man pulled roughly from the train car, and he's still fighting, spitting at the Peacekeepers.

She tries to appeal to Snow in order to minimize the torture on this man, and every man in the future.

"You're targeting their bodies. The physical. But as long as a person's mind is intact, they'll have hope. They'll keep fighting back." She says to Snow. He insists on inviting her to tea frequently, so he can keep an eye on her. It's a game between them, with Snow gauging her loyalty, her cleverness. She tries to prove her worth every time. The moment she stops being useful, or oversteps her boundaries, she's as good as dead.

She didn't realize it, but those words inspired experiments with Tracker Jacker venom. She'd given Snow the idea to break that man's spirit, use them against the rebellion. She isn't sure which is worse, torturing the body, or destroying the mind.

President Snow is a classic narcissist, but he's also prideful, so he can't help but gloat at his genius. He takes her down into the lower levels of the Capitol holding cells, and shows her to a blindingly white room. Inside, there is a prisoner. There are many, all crying out in plea or in pain, but she only sees the one.

"Peeta Mellark." She croaks. She prays that her expression shows only mild interest. She barely hears the curses of the other victor, Johanna. Haymitch had told her that the Capitol might have the Victors who hadn't escaped, but to see them was a whole different story. She struggled to breathe. In the clinically sterile state of the room, Peeta deep purple and yellow bruises stood out starkly. His dark circles are practically black. He stares out at her through the window, but keeps on staring past her—then she realizes that the glass is one way. They watch him squirm like a lab experiment.

Her mind whirls, and she forces herself to look at the situation analytically. The glass is probably, at the very least, durable enough to take any serious damage. There's only one door, so only one entrance and exit. But inside, Peeta isn't restrained at all.

"Why isn't he tied up?" She asks.

"I took your advice into consideration, my dear Islee. I thought you might like to see your legacy. Astounding, isn't it? The amount of twisting that the human mind can endure, yet still be functional?" He tells her almost gleefully. Then he explains the Tracker Jacker venom brainwashing procedure. Hijacking. She repeats the word over and over again in her head with horror. He delivers the finishing blow: "He hates everyone that he once loved, and loves everything that he hated."

She feels like throwing up, but she keeps it together. She still has a long way to go.

_I swear to god, Peeta, I'll get you out of here. I'll make it up to you one day._

Madge feels as if she's tortured Peeta herself.

.JJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJJ.

**Hey readers. If you feel like giving me some constructive criticism, I've been worried that I'm making Madge a little too pathetically love-worn in her past with Gale, so I just wanted to know if it seems realistic, given that she is a teenage girl, and Gale is, you know… Gale. Shoot me a review! Also, I remember the whipping scene being in the snow, but I'm not sure, so sorry if that detail is wrong!**


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